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<span class="breadcrumb-node">Search-as-you-type datatype</span>
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<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div>
<h2 class="title">
<a id="search-as-you-type"></a>Search-as-you-type datatype<a class="edit_me edit_me_private" rel="nofollow" title="Editing on GitHub is available to Elastic" href="https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/edit/7.7/docs/reference/mapping/types/search-as-you-type.asciidoc">edit</a>
</h2>
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<p>The <code class="literal">search_as_you_type</code> field type is a text-like field that is optimized to
provide out-of-the-box support for queries that serve an as-you-type completion
use case. It creates a series of subfields that are analyzed to index terms
that can be efficiently matched by a query that partially matches the entire
indexed text value. Both prefix completion (i.e matching terms starting at the
beginning of the input) and infix completion (i.e. matching terms at any
position within the input) are supported.</p>
<p>When adding a field of this type to a mapping</p>
<div class="pre_wrapper lang-console">
<pre class="programlisting prettyprint lang-console">PUT my_index
{
  "mappings": {
    "properties": {
      "my_field": {
        "type": "search_as_you_type"
      }
    }
  }
}</pre>
</div>
<div class="console_widget" data-snippet="snippets/698.console"></div>
<p>This creates the following fields</p>
<div class="informaltable">
<table border="0" cellpadding="4px">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p>
<code class="literal">my_field</code>
</p>
</td>
<td valign="top">
<p>
Analyzed as configured in the mapping. If an analyzer is not configured,
the default analyzer for the index is used
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p>
<code class="literal">my_field._2gram</code>
</p>
</td>
<td valign="top">
<p>
Wraps the analyzer of <code class="literal">my_field</code> with a shingle token filter of shingle
size 2
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p>
<code class="literal">my_field._3gram</code>
</p>
</td>
<td valign="top">
<p>
Wraps the analyzer of <code class="literal">my_field</code> with a shingle token filter of shingle
size 3
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p>
<code class="literal">my_field._index_prefix</code>
</p>
</td>
<td valign="top">
<p>
Wraps the analyzer of <code class="literal">my_field._3gram</code> with an edge ngram token filter
</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p>The size of shingles in subfields can be configured with the <code class="literal">max_shingle_size</code>
mapping parameter. The default is 3, and valid values for this parameter are
integer values 2 - 4 inclusive. Shingle subfields will be created for each
shingle size from 2 up to and including the <code class="literal">max_shingle_size</code>. The
<code class="literal">my_field._index_prefix</code> subfield will always use the analyzer from the shingle
subfield with the <code class="literal">max_shingle_size</code> when constructing its own analyzer.</p>
<p>Increasing the <code class="literal">max_shingle_size</code> will improve matches for queries with more
consecutive terms, at the cost of larger index size. The default
<code class="literal">max_shingle_size</code> should usually be sufficient.</p>
<p>The same input text is indexed into each of these fields automatically, with
their differing analysis chains, when an indexed document has a value for the
root field <code class="literal">my_field</code>.</p>
<div class="pre_wrapper lang-console">
<pre class="programlisting prettyprint lang-console">PUT my_index/_doc/1?refresh
{
  "my_field": "quick brown fox jump lazy dog"
}</pre>
</div>
<div class="console_widget" data-snippet="snippets/699.console"></div>
<p>The most efficient way of querying to serve a search-as-you-type use case is
usually a <a class="xref" href="query-dsl-multi-match-query.html" title="Multi-match query"><code class="literal">multi_match</code></a> query of type
<a class="xref" href="query-dsl-match-bool-prefix-query.html" title="Match boolean prefix query"><code class="literal">bool_prefix</code></a> that targets the root
<code class="literal">search_as_you_type</code> field and its shingle subfields. This can match the query
terms in any order, but will score documents higher if they contain the terms
in order in a shingle subfield.</p>
<div class="pre_wrapper lang-console">
<pre class="programlisting prettyprint lang-console">GET my_index/_search
{
  "query": {
    "multi_match": {
      "query": "brown f",
      "type": "bool_prefix",
      "fields": [
        "my_field",
        "my_field._2gram",
        "my_field._3gram"
      ]
    }
  }
}</pre>
</div>
<div class="console_widget" data-snippet="snippets/700.console"></div>
<div class="pre_wrapper lang-console-result">
<pre class="programlisting prettyprint lang-console-result">{
  "took" : 44,
  "timed_out" : false,
  "_shards" : {
    "total" : 1,
    "successful" : 1,
    "skipped" : 0,
    "failed" : 0
  },
  "hits" : {
    "total" : {
      "value" : 1,
      "relation" : "eq"
    },
    "max_score" : 0.8630463,
    "hits" : [
      {
        "_index" : "my_index",
        "_type" : "_doc",
        "_id" : "1",
        "_score" : 0.8630463,
        "_source" : {
          "my_field" : "quick brown fox jump lazy dog"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}</pre>
</div>
<p>To search for documents that strictly match the query terms in order, or to
search using other properties of phrase queries, use a
<a class="xref" href="query-dsl-match-query-phrase-prefix.html" title="Match phrase prefix query"><code class="literal">match_phrase_prefix</code> query</a> on the root
field. A <a class="xref" href="query-dsl-match-query-phrase.html" title="Match phrase query"><code class="literal">match_phrase</code> query</a> can also be used
if the last term should be matched exactly, and not as a prefix. Using phrase
queries may be less efficient than using the <code class="literal">match_bool_prefix</code> query.</p>
<div class="pre_wrapper lang-console">
<pre class="programlisting prettyprint lang-console">GET my_index/_search
{
  "query": {
    "match_phrase_prefix": {
      "my_field": "brown f"
    }
  }
}</pre>
</div>
<div class="console_widget" data-snippet="snippets/701.console"></div>
<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div>
<h3 class="title">
<a id="specific-params"></a>Parameters specific to the <code class="literal">search_as_you_type</code> field<a class="edit_me edit_me_private" rel="nofollow" title="Editing on GitHub is available to Elastic" href="https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/edit/7.7/docs/reference/mapping/types/search-as-you-type.asciidoc">edit</a>
</h3>
</div></div></div>
<p>The following parameters are accepted in a mapping for the <code class="literal">search_as_you_type</code>
field and are specific to this field type</p>
<div class="variablelist">
<dl class="variablelist">
<dt>
<span class="term">
<code class="literal">max_shingle_size</code>
</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>(Optional, integer)
Largest shingle size to create. Valid values are <code class="literal">2</code> (inclusive) to <code class="literal">4</code>
(inclusive). Defaults to <code class="literal">3</code>.</p>
<p>A subfield is created for each integer between <code class="literal">2</code> and this value. For example,
a value of <code class="literal">3</code> creates two subfields: <code class="literal">my_field._2gram</code> and <code class="literal">my_field._3gram</code></p>
<p>More subfields enables more specific queries but increases index size.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
</div>

<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div>
<h3 class="title">
<a id="general-params"></a>Parameters of the field type as a text field<a class="edit_me edit_me_private" rel="nofollow" title="Editing on GitHub is available to Elastic" href="https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/edit/7.7/docs/reference/mapping/types/search-as-you-type.asciidoc">edit</a>
</h3>
</div></div></div>
<p>The following parameters are accepted in a mapping for the <code class="literal">search_as_you_type</code>
field due to its nature as a text-like field, and behave similarly to their
behavior when configuring a field of the <a class="xref" href="text.html" title="Text datatype"><code class="literal">text</code></a> datatype. Unless
otherwise noted, these options configure the root fields subfields in
the same way.</p>
<div class="variablelist">
<dl class="variablelist">
<dt>
<span class="term">
<a class="xref" href="analyzer.html" title="analyzer"><code class="literal">analyzer</code></a>
</span>
</dt>
<dd>
The <a class="xref" href="analysis.html" title="Text analysis">analyzer</a> which should be used for
<code class="literal">text</code> fields, both at index-time and at
search-time (unless overridden by the
<a class="xref" href="search-analyzer.html" title="search_analyzer"><code class="literal">search_analyzer</code></a>). Defaults to the default index
analyzer, or the <a class="xref" href="analysis-standard-analyzer.html" title="Standard Analyzer"><code class="literal">standard</code> analyzer</a>.
</dd>
<dt>
<span class="term">
<a class="xref" href="mapping-index.html" title="index"><code class="literal">index</code></a>
</span>
</dt>
<dd>
Should the field be searchable? Accepts <code class="literal">true</code> (default) or <code class="literal">false</code>.
</dd>
<dt>
<span class="term">
<a class="xref" href="index-options.html" title="index_options"><code class="literal">index_options</code></a>
</span>
</dt>
<dd>
What information should be stored in the index, for search and highlighting
purposes. Defaults to <code class="literal">positions</code>.
</dd>
<dt>
<span class="term">
<a class="xref" href="norms.html" title="norms"><code class="literal">norms</code></a>
</span>
</dt>
<dd>
Whether field-length should be taken into account when scoring queries.
Accepts <code class="literal">true</code> or <code class="literal">false</code>. This option configures the root field
and shingle subfields, where its default is <code class="literal">true</code>. It does not configure
the prefix subfield, where it it <code class="literal">false</code>.
</dd>
<dt>
<span class="term">
<a class="xref" href="mapping-store.html" title="store"><code class="literal">store</code></a>
</span>
</dt>
<dd>
Whether the field value should be stored and retrievable separately from
the <a class="xref" href="mapping-source-field.html" title="_source field"><code class="literal">_source</code></a> field. Accepts <code class="literal">true</code> or <code class="literal">false</code>
(default). This option only configures the root field, and does not
configure any subfields.
</dd>
<dt>
<span class="term">
<a class="xref" href="search-analyzer.html" title="search_analyzer"><code class="literal">search_analyzer</code></a>
</span>
</dt>
<dd>
The <a class="xref" href="analyzer.html" title="analyzer"><code class="literal">analyzer</code></a> that should be used at search time on
<a class="xref" href="text.html" title="Text datatype"><code class="literal">text</code></a> fields. Defaults to the <code class="literal">analyzer</code> setting.
</dd>
<dt>
<span class="term">
<a class="xref" href="analyzer.html#search-quote-analyzer" title="search_quote_analyzer"><code class="literal">search_quote_analyzer</code></a>
</span>
</dt>
<dd>
The <a class="xref" href="analyzer.html" title="analyzer"><code class="literal">analyzer</code></a> that should be used at search time when a
phrase is encountered. Defaults to the <code class="literal">search_analyzer</code> setting.
</dd>
<dt>
<span class="term">
<a class="xref" href="similarity.html" title="similarity"><code class="literal">similarity</code></a>
</span>
</dt>
<dd>
Which scoring algorithm or <em>similarity</em> should be used. Defaults
to <code class="literal">BM25</code>.
</dd>
<dt>
<span class="term">
<a class="xref" href="term-vector.html" title="term_vector"><code class="literal">term_vector</code></a>
</span>
</dt>
<dd>
Whether term vectors should be stored for the field. Defaults to <code class="literal">no</code>. This option configures the root field and shingle
subfields, but not the prefix subfield.
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
</div>

<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div>
<h3 class="title">
<a id="prefix-queries"></a>Optimization of prefix queries<a class="edit_me edit_me_private" rel="nofollow" title="Editing on GitHub is available to Elastic" href="https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/edit/7.7/docs/reference/mapping/types/search-as-you-type.asciidoc">edit</a>
</h3>
</div></div></div>
<p>When making a <a class="xref" href="query-dsl-prefix-query.html" title="Prefix query"><code class="literal">prefix</code></a> query to the root field or
any of its subfields, the query will be rewritten to a
<a class="xref" href="query-dsl-term-query.html" title="Term query"><code class="literal">term</code></a> query on the <code class="literal">._index_prefix</code> subfield. This
matches more efficiently than is typical of <code class="literal">prefix</code> queries on text fields,
as prefixes up to a certain length of each shingle are indexed directly as
terms in the <code class="literal">._index_prefix</code> subfield.</p>
<p>The analyzer of the <code class="literal">._index_prefix</code> subfield slightly modifies the
shingle-building behavior to also index prefixes of the terms at the end of the
field’s value that normally would not be produced as shingles. For example, if
the value <code class="literal">quick brown fox</code> is indexed into a <code class="literal">search_as_you_type</code> field with
<code class="literal">max_shingle_size</code> of 3, prefixes for <code class="literal">brown fox</code> and <code class="literal">fox</code> are also indexed
into the <code class="literal">._index_prefix</code> subfield even though they do not appear as terms in
the <code class="literal">._3gram</code> subfield. This allows for completion of all the terms in the
field’s input.</p>
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